WhatsApp Adding Voice Calls to its Repertoire

Last week, the news broke that Facebook had purchased WhatsApp for a whopping $19 billion. Today, WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum said the company will be adding voice calls to its app in the second quarter of this year. Whether this was already in the works prior to the Facebook deal is unknown, but regardless, this is big news for both sides.

With over 450 million users worldwide, WhatsApp's free mobile messaging service has already dealt a blow to the telecommunications industry, which has tried to keep text messaging more expensive than it should be. Speaking at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona today, Koum said that, "We are driven by the mission that people should be able to stay in touch anywhere and affordably. Our goal is to be on every mobile phone in the world." He also said that the acquisition by Facebook will not alter the roadmap and there will be no advertising added to the service.